FMC 100 – We celebrate our 100th episode

Full Episode Transcript
This episode marks the 100th milestone for Filmmaker Commentary, featuring a retrospective look at the podcast's journey, a dive into recent film news, and a countdown of the hosts' favorite movies and filmmakers.

Episode 100 Celebration and Overview
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaking commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 100. Thank you for tuning in to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with Casey G. Smith.
Casey G. Smith: Welcome back.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Good to be back. And this is episode 100 of Filmmaker Commentary.
Casey G. Smith: Thank you for hanging with us.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed. Did you ever think we'd hit 100?
Casey G. Smith: I don't know if I've done 100 of anything in my life. So, just uh, grateful. Grateful to you, my friend.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, likewise, brother. Um, so today, on today's episode, what are we doing, brother Casey?
Casey G. Smith: We are going to uh, dive into the usual. We'll hit up some news and movies watched. But then we want to kind of jump into a little bit of a of a of a retrospective, looking back at some uh different things. Uh from our top 10, actually, first, top five movies that we've reviewed on this show that have commentaries. We'll also then look at our favorite director for commentaries, uh movies that we wish had commentaries, and directors that we wish would either record a commentary or record more commentaries. And then we will wrap up with Reginald and I both giving you our top 10, our top 10 personal best films between 2009 and 2019.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Perfect. But before we talk about top 10 films, let's talk about news and movies watched.

Industry News and What We're Watching
Casey G. Smith: All right. So according to Deadline, uh SAG and Aftra have reached an agreement for new contracts as it relates to animation. Animation contracts. So, a couple of highlights, some of the breakthroughs. It's a three-year extension, but what it does for the actors, it gives a wage increase of 2.5% in the first year, um and then 3% in the second year, and then uh 3% in the third year. In addition to that, there's a 1% increase in the contribution rate of the SAG-Aftra health plan, and optional wage diversions in years two and three that allow the union to shift a 0.5%. All right, that's getting too technical. All right. So, know this: that they're going to have additional benefits to their health plans and towards their the the pension. But also uh there was a 20% 26% improvement in residuals for high budget animated programs that are on subscription services like Amazon and Hulu. And the threshold for what is considered a high budget project was lowered from uh 550,000 to 500,000. So it went down by $50,000. So that threshold is lower, I guess, for them to be able to tap into residuals on subscription streaming service animated projects.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Interesting.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, so they got some wins. There's some other stuff as well, but uh yeah, you can find more out about that on Deadline.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. What have you been watching? Any new movies or television?
Casey G. Smith: Yes. All right. So, um again, resident nerd here. You guys know I love me some Transformers. And finally the wait was over. This past Friday, Netflix in partnership with Hasbro, they launched the the mini-series, Transformers: Siege. Transformers: War for Cybertron: Siege. Um, just like the original G1 cartoon, this show is based on a toy line. If you go into any Target or Walmart and you go in the toy section, you're going to see Transformers, and they'll say either War for Cybertron: Siege or they'll say Earthrise. So, the plan is this: there's going to be three six-part series, like a trilogy. The first one will be Siege. The next one will be Earthrise. And I don't know what the third one's going to be called. But this is a deal they made with Netflix, uh Rooster Teeth, animation studio out of Austin is involved, and also uh uh another party overseas in Japan, if I'm not mistaken, is also involved with the animation. Um, but this is kind of a a beginning point, if you will. So this is before before the Transformers came to Earth, what was happening on Cybertron? The the conflict, the war. We get introduced to Optimus Prime and Megatron. Optimus is not the great leader that he becomes. He's still kind of wet behind the ears. Megatron is not a full-blown megalomaniac just yet. He's he's got he's got certain motivations. So he's a little bit layered, honestly. Uh some characters get some nice shine. There's a lot of of influences in this series. Some are coming directly from the old G1 cartoon from the 80s. There's influences from some of the move Michael Bay films. There's also influence even from the the uh IDW comics, a lot of influence from the IDW comic book run. But uh yeah, six episodes, 23 minutes a piece. Quick watch.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Solid.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, and a little bit it's a little bit darker, man, like different characters.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I expect it.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. My man Bumblebee's got some nice attitude, and he's not doing that, you know, no offense, but he's not doing the pop-locking, not doing the breakdancing. Nothing like that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Don't pop-lockin'.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, no, no. He definitely not pop-locking. There's there's these are times of war. There is no dancing. But for those, I mean, for those who, you know, enjoy the Michael Bay films, which I I don't. I'm just going to be real, I don't I don't really care for those. Um, and I really don't care for Bumblebee without a voice. I don't like that. That's just not that's not what I grew up with. I like my Bumblebee to be able to talk.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Bumblebee talks in this. And he's got a little attitude.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. They've kind of they've kind of messed the character up then because.
Casey G. Smith: Well, I mean, it's it's interpretation. And it it plays out in different ways. There was a a series called Transformers Prime from a couple years ago, which is great. Oh, man, so good. And he's he's voiceless, you know, in that for the most part, but they handled that really well. This one, he's got a voice. Not afraid to use it. And this thing is just layered, right? You got Autobot, Decepticon, then you got you got some uh Cybertronians who are in between. Not everybody has chosen a side. And you can see that, you know, these are uh people. You know, their personalities. That they they had life before there was war. They had lives, they had functions. Like some were engineers, some were socialites. And you get small kind of glimpses and hints to that. But that's one of the cool things. And again, that's harking all the way back to the original cartoon. When you would read bios on these characters, it would talk about, oh, they long to be back on Cybertron and where they would play and gigs or where they were chief engineers. Like, yeah, they've always had these backstories. This show attempts to kind of flush some of that out. And uh yeah, it's I liked it. I liked it. It they could have gone badly, but they they they did well. And and the models are spot on to the toys, which is a nice redemption from what we had in the old G1 cartoon because if you watched the cartoon and you had a toy, you were like, they don't look the same. This is not that. They literally modeled them after the toy. So that's one of the things. Transformers: War for Cybertron, streaming on Netflix.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I can dig it. One of the movies that I was going to talk about last time, but I said, I'll talk about it this time. Uh is a documentary called Showbiz Kids. It's on HBO. And it's literally talking to kids that you've seen grow up in front of the camera and what goes on behind the scenes. And you know, there's a lot of, I mean, all you have to do is go on YouTube and everybody kind of people are starting to talk more about like the pedophilia and things that are going on in Hollywood. And they get into it, and they talk about it. Um, what's our guy from uh Different Strokes?
Casey G. Smith: Is it called Different Strokes?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, Gary Coleman?
Casey G. Smith: Not uh, Todd. Is it Todd Bridges, right?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Todd Bridges, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he's, you know, talking, explaining everything, you know.
Casey G. Smith: Dang.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And so he was like, yeah, you know, it happened to him. But nobody would listen. Oh, wow. Yeah. And that's like kind of like the same story over and over again. Yeah. Like the adults are not listening to the kids and what's happening. And so anyhow, it's a very interesting insight on how some of these kids grow up in front of the camera and like how they're forced to, you know, deal with some of their torment, you know. How they deal with it, some drugs, some suicide, some whatever. Some are still in the business and they've figured a way to kind of navigate it. But Showbiz Kids, you know, it's coming straight from the people in the industry.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, wow. I I'll have to check that out. That's it's terrible, but it's important it's important to to continue to bring the awareness. So thank you for sharing that, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed.
Casey G. Smith: Um, on the flip side of that, uh on Stars, I I watched another episode of P-Valley.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, there you go.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, it's on Stars, this is on Stars, so.
Casey G. Smith: Okay. So, no hoe bars on Stars. Um, I had watched the first episode, and I was like, okay, you know, even though it's about strippers, I was like, ah, it's not crazy on the nudity. Then I got to the second episode, I was like, whoa!
Reginald Titus Jr.: This is what Hustlers was missing.
Casey G. Smith: Like this Yeah, man, there's like, there's no way to to make, anyhow. What makes it raw? What makes it raw? Uh equal opportunity nudity. Let me put it that way. Like they're like just like, yeah, here, there, everywhere. Whatever. But, uh, but this is, I mean, there's a, you know, story behind it and there's there's there's mystery and intrigue with the main character. You you wonder like, she's running from something and you're trying to figure out what, and you only get bits and pieces of that. And then you've got the other stripper who's mom works at a church who constantly hits her up for money. And it's, man, it's it's some of the dynamics are fascinating and, um, yeah. Anyway, but yeah, it's it's interesting, but yeah, I'm like, man, it's it's it's it's uh raw. It's raw. I'm like, yeah. We'll see. We'll see if I if I if I continue to get with it. P-Valley.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There you go. Yes.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. I I told some people Reginald: P stands for presence. Yeah. I'm referring to the song OPP. Like Naughty by Nature.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Okay. It's kind of the way that another way to call her cat or kitten, there's five letters that are missing. Yeah. Get back.
Casey G. Smith: But, yeah, some friends the other day they asked me, I was mentioning the show. And again, by then I I'd only seen the first episode. And I'm like, what does P stand for? And I was like, we were on a, you know, a FaceTime call, and I was I just gave him a look. I was like, mmm. I'm like, you can take a guess. You can take a guess.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What else you been watching, man?
Casey G. Smith: Going and kind of like the same vein, uh HBO Max, you know. Have you have you started looking in HBO Max at all?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I did. I had to, cuz like Roku doesn't doesn't allow you to, uh they disabled HBO Go on the 31st. Yeah, so I was like, all right, so I downloaded HBO Max. I got it on my phone so I can just, you know, cast it to the TV if I need to.
Casey G. Smith: I noticed. I was like, I was trying to log in. What's going on?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I was like, oh Max, they forced everybody over to this.
Casey G. Smith: Force migration. Oh, my brother, unbelievable.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, anyway, but it was smart, because people are they're not going to change on their own. They got to be they got to be forced. So, it's like we're pouting the whole way then logging like, oh, it's it's beautiful. It's beautiful.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, there's a hand guiding you all. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot going on there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There is a lot going on. But there is a the reason that I was specifically looking for a certain film, it's called On the Record. And this is a documentary that Oprah got a lot of flak for because we had, um, what did we have? We had the R. Kelly situation. Remember R. Kelly and throwing a brother under the bus and was like, ah, it was it was bad, you know, there was a lot of, you know, people got careers off of that, you know, throwing them, you know, Gayle interviewed him, you know, Oprah endorsed it. I mean, it launched careers, you know, this guy's demise, you know, it launched careers, but he should have been in jail. Side note. Um, Newsflash. R. Kelly should have been should have been in jail. Newsflash. Not about to regulate these kids with nothing. For real. Um, then you had Kobe the, you know, Kobe Bryant passing away, and then you had Gayle, didn't Gayle that was interviewing Lisa Leslie? And she was trying to kind of like get her to get some dirt, get some dish on Kobe. Yeah, she wouldn't do it, you know. She was just like, no, he's good. He's been helping out these the WNBA. Like she talked real high, and like that caused a big backlash. So, um, there's a there's during the Me Too movement, Russell Simmons had a quite a few women that came out and said, you know, he raped them. He, you know, took advantage of them, all kinds of stuff. And so this documentary was in development, kind of like in the same vein as the R. Kelly situation. And Oprah signed on, you know, to introduce this film, you know, she's an executive producer and bringing on to the Apple Plus platform.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Once it was announced that this is the film that she was working on, the the black community in general was like, okay, we're done, you know. Y'all are doing too much. You and Gayle are doing too much over there. Especially when at the time, I don't think Harvey Weinstein was in jail, and then she had all these pictures with Harvey Weinstein and all the whole inner circles that were like, why are you throwing these guys on the bus? You got you're friends with these other guys that are.
Casey G. Smith: Right, under scrutiny as well. Allegations.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You may not be friends with these other guys that are thrown on the bus, but you have friends or associates that are in deep hot mess right now. So anyhow, so basically, she kind of backed off. She said she had gotten pressure from Russell Simmons. Russell had called. L.A. Reid had called, you know. So she kind of like backed off of it. So they had to find a home for this film. And so the home for the film is HBO Max. So I was like, I got to go, you know, check this film out. But it's called On the Record, and it's actually pretty dang pretty darn good. It's well done. Um, that was kind of one of my gripes with the R. Kelly, um, uh, uh, uh, Surviving R. Kelly. Yeah, Surviving R. Kelly. I I from a technical standpoint, I was like, this is, what's going on here? Um, compelling story, but technically it wasn't, to me, in my opinion, it wasn't executed to the highest.
Casey G. Smith: Production value was off.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, but because of such a compelling story, it's like you can record that thing with a damn phone, they wouldn't care. You can do some amazing things with the phone. Yeah, but Android, from 2004. No. All right, specifics. Flip phone, Motorola, right. Yeah, exactly. I got the footage. I mean, I mean, I'm Primeco phone. I mean, there it is old footage in that film. Anyhow, um, and I think this film was at Sundance. It was either Sundance or South by Southwest is where they premiered and everything like that. So I was looking for the film, but it's kind of hidden in HBO Max, and uh yeah, but it it done well, and it's very uh, I don't know, man. It's not looking good for the Simmons clan.
Casey G. Smith: Ooh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Speaking of which, I mean, he pretty much bounced. He's not even in the States. He's in Bali, living in Bali.
Casey G. Smith: That's telling. That's uh again, when you use that up, when you up and leave, that's not a good look. That's not a good look. It's not not a good look.
Reginald Titus Jr.: On the Record, man. Uh check it out. It's for like the Me Too movement, just, you know, something to check out, just to be knowledgeable of.
Casey G. Smith: Bad.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, documentary.
Casey G. Smith: Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. Controversy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hmm.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, I've also, on an uplifting note. Let's bring it up. On a positive black note. I watched Beyoncé's Black Is King. My goodness. On Disney Plus. She drops something, she's 100% excellent. Beyoncé walked into the bar of life and said, give me the blackest thing you have. Make it a triple. Yes. And rounds for everyone.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Because, man, and and kudos to Disney Plus.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right. I didn't expect that.
Casey G. Smith: No. I didn't either, man. But the the timing of this, when you see it, you know, this thing has been in development for a long at least a year.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: I mean, have you seen it?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not yet.
Casey G. Smith: Okay, it is it is sit down with the family.
Reginald Titus Jr.: When when you text when you texted to me, I was like, oh, cuz I had two other films on the list to knock out. And I was like, man, not yet. So, it's a we're going to knock it out this week.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, man, you you'll be blessed. You'll be blessed for it. I almost I I after seeing this, like I when now when I see Beyoncé, in my mind I say, AKA Mother Earth.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, right.
Casey G. Smith: Man, like the the maternal uh imagery uh of of her throughout. It's it's it's wonderful. It's beautiful. I mean, we all know Beyoncé is beautiful. But like, I mean, she's just as beautiful as a mom. I mean, you know, the you know, fuller figure, but it's it's it's it's it's this this this nurturing imagery throughout. And it's it's a, you know, an interpretation of sorts of of Lion King. Um, but the music, man. Man, there's some joints that are hitting on this thing. And then, of course, obviously, the choreography, the cinematography, Reginald, man, when you you see this thing, you like, oh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Come on now. Okay. Yeah. I don't know who was Mila was Mila Menosuka, the one from Queen & Slim, the director, did she do any Cuz you know, she does a lot of Beyoncé's.
Casey G. Smith: There are several directors on this, including Beyoncé. Huh? Yeah, she she directed, she obviously produced. She played multiple roles, but like she's the first director that pops up on there. And then you see another screen more directors, and there's multiple editors. Like this thing, I mean, it's an hour and some change. And but it is all. It is fantastic. And afterwards, man, you and it's just, I mean, it it is a, you know, black is beautiful and celebrated and, ah, it is it is lovely. And there's cameos, some other people that pop in. I'm not going to, you know, give it away. Watch it for yourself. But it is, yeah, it is it is great. Something you can just also just put on afterwards, just put in the background. It's kind of have it just.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Cuz it's like a visual album, isn't it?
Casey G. Smith: Oh, 100%. This is this is.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's like Lemonade, like what she did with Lemonade.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. But this is, man, it's just.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Next level.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, this is next level. It is from the opening.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I like what she's doing. I like what she's doing, and then her her sister Solange, you know, just pushing that creativity along with the music, but adding these like, cuz uh uh Solange is more of the what's it called, the, what's the the sci-fi, but it's like got the African in it.
Casey G. Smith: Afropunk or Afrofuturism?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Afropunk, Afrofuturism. It could be the same thing, but I thought the term was Afropunk, but okay. I don't know. But she has that in her music videos, Solange. And so I'm like, I've never seen some of these images, but it's like it's futuristic, but it's like so black, too.
Casey G. Smith: Nice. I'm have to check that. Like her, she's got something new that she's dropped recently?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Solange, yeah, just go on YouTube and type her her album. She has some pretty dope stuff.
Casey G. Smith: Nice, nice. I mean, she literally has a music video where it's just nothing but the um the Deloreans. There's about like 30 of them. And they got them like in a circle, but then also has like image of the the black cowboys, you know, and it was just like, I'm like, y'all are real black, you know. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What?
Casey G. Smith: That's awesome, man. That is awesome. But you know, it's yeah, Black Is King. Is on Disney Plus. Just check it out. It's in again in these times, this it was like just so on point. You watch it and you're like, ah, it's a.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Black is King.
Casey G. Smith: It's some excellence. Yeah, it's excellence. It's it's it's got a refreshing a refreshing feeling to it and it's just it's just beautiful, man. And it's just talent on full display. I told my mom, she she watched this weekend, and she hit me back and she was like, we were talking about it and she was like, man, she goes, I was watching this and she goes, and I I had to look I had to look some things up afterwards because it was so much, you know, imagery and visuals and it's it's that's that's all very true. She goes, but she, I was thinking to myself like, man, Michael's Michael had nothing on Beyoncé, you know, now, cuz I was like, you know, yeah, I mean, she's kind of taken what he did with his videos and boom, going going to that next level. Again, you're talking visual albums. But yeah, that's cool. And I also watched Lion King. I was like, you know, let me watch the new Lion King, right? The one that they made. Jon Favreau's Lion King. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, visually stunning. I I skimmed through it. Like I was I'll play it, skim, skim. I was like, this is, it looks like animals talking. Yeah. And that makes sense. Like if you've seen the Lion King community, this is beat for beat the same film. Uh, but yeah, just take in the visuals of it. My God, and that's it's incredible. It's incredible. And I still people say because they're trying to make it realistic, you know, the eyes aren't going to go big like a like a 2D animated character, right? They're they're kind of working that realism. So some of the expressions are a little subdued, but you can see that it's it's yeah, cuz you got the yeah, cuz you got the Disney stuff that's ingrained in your mind, the animation. So yeah, it's Yeah, but it it fits the realism, you know, what these animals can do and even how their facial expressions, I guess, you know, would be. So, but no, I thought it was it was quite quite well done. Animation, CGI. Which one? What's a which one do you use the better film? Better film? Better movie? Yeah. I got to go with the original 2D. Yeah. Just because of the the voices. Yeah. I like better like I I didn't really care for Seth Rogen, like the Pumbaa and Timon in this one. They had some gags, but I I preferred the original voice actors. Again, Donald Glover, love him. Yeah, he's okay he's okay as Simba. Um, maybe maybe he's better than the original person that did it, but also when he and Beyoncé sing together, it just it didn't quite work for me. They got a cut that they that they sang together, it didn't quite didn't quite hit for me. Uh, James Earl Jones is still rocking it out as Mufasa in both. Solid. Solid, regardless. Yeah, you know. But uh, and then just Jeremy Jeremy Irons, you know, when he sings, be prepared. You know, whoever's singing it, whoever's voicing him on this other one, no, he doesn't even come close to hitting that. He kind of goes a different route. Yeah, yeah, kind of more subdued. So.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's real. That's true. Oh.
Casey G. Smith: Different experience. Yeah. And again, like this is where I kind of contradict myself, that extra expression from the animated characters, it adds something. But again, it's a musical. Yes, it is. It is a musical. Both are musicals. Uh, because they they still have the singing in both, but uh, yeah, I have to take the Disney one. Plus, man, you got you got Whoopi in there and uh, but this one, if I were a kid growing up with this, it would be fun and and and great, but um, but yeah, I got to go with the original.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Get about it.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I think so. I'll go with the original. They're both entertaining for different reasons. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You can't beat a good performance.
Casey G. Smith: That's true. That's true.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Anything else you watched?
Casey G. Smith: Um, I finally watched The Joker.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Ah, okay.
Casey G. Smith: That's on HBO Max.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Gotcha. Switched over. I was like, oh, let's go ahead and play this freaking, watched it with the wife. And, um, it was a hell of a performance from Joaquin Phoenix. My God. All in. Yeah. Tragic. I mean, the way that they developed his character, it made you feel for him. Yeah. And, uh, and it's like, there's like no hope. The way that they built this, it's like the from the music, it's like drawn out and it's like, there's no hope for this cat.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, he's doomed doomed to become this.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. This monster. Everything just goes awry. My God. At the perfect time, too. It's just like, how inconvenient is this?
Casey G. Smith: And then the again, spoiler, spoiler alert. I mean, come on. Spoiler. One of the hottest movies of 2019.
Reginald Titus Jr.: If you haven't seen Joker yet, we're going to discuss it for a moment. So please know that there will be spoilers. We got to keep it going. Tradition. Yeah, just fast forward a little bit if you. But the fact that they they used the the medical condition of him having an involuntary laugh. Yeah, that was great. Yeah, that was very smart. Uh, even towards the the end when his relationship with Zazie Beetz character. Oh my God. Yeah, that was the thing that I was kind of concerned because I saw a trailer. I was like, yeah, right. Like. Fiction. Yeah. This is is this the punchline? I get it. I get it. Yeah, right. That's what I said when I saw that trailer. What is Hollywood trying to. What are they trying to push. That's great. Yeah, right. Based on the trailer, you know what I mean? So that's why. That is funny. So you think that what that was going to, well, and so and it turns out, you're right. You you you caught that, man, because at the end, like, it was all like literally in his head, man. He had like. They pulled from Fight Club on that on those shots, man. I was like, oh. But you know what, like, uh like there was a scene when she when he was in the hospital, uh looking at his mom and Zazie Beetz was right there. And then I'm thinking, like, she just, well, I'll catch you later. I'm just like, she's just going to walk out. Like, you know, when you like from a practical standpoint, you're like, all right, this she's just going to catch the bus. It's late at night. This doesn't make sense. And then when they do the reveal later, I was like, okay, that's why it didn't make sense because it didn't happen. Yeah. He's just imagining this whole thing, man. That's that's extra creepy, you know. He's just in this lady's house in her apartment. And then when she starts saying, you're, um, what was her name? Arthur. Arthur. You're uh so and so's son, you know, or, you know, do you need a, like, when she's like, I don't know this dude, like, oh oh. Yeah. Yeah, man. When you realize when you're when your main character just realizes he's crazy. I've like that scene. And then you're on the ride with him. Yeah. And you realize it, too. Oh, no, this guy's. I was like, the loop is like closing. He's like, oh, he he was believing all this stuff, but then now is they're forcing him to see the truth. Like, oh, dang. Wow. And so now he he's developed his philosophy. Now he's free from these lies. So this is actually a pretty pretty darn good performance. I mean, just arc of a character. Yeah. And the fact they change it so much from like traditional Batman lore, you know, comic book lore where, I mean, Bruce is so much younger. And this guy's a grown man. Oh. In that Thomas Wayne, that's Bruce's dad, you know what I mean? Destined to to die. And he was a dick, man. Thomas was Thomas Wayne was not a good guy. There's a clear like from like classism, like it's just like you either got it or you don't. And they either have money or you don't. And they're going to treat you as such. Yeah. And then even like, you know, her his mom telling him that, yeah, potentially that he's his father, you know, like he's the bastard child of Thomas Wayne. And putting that thought in his head, it's like, wow. Yeah, man, that's uh.

Podcast Origins and Top Films
Reginald Titus Jr.: Six. Six. Six people. Yeah. Joker. Rated R. Made a billion dollars at the box office. Off of $5 million. Man. How about that?
Casey G. Smith: Nobody saw that coming, man. Nobody saw that coming.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not a bill. Didn't see a bill. Not even, man. Saw some money, but I didn't realize the budget was so low either.
Casey G. Smith: Nobody thought a like a borderline independent Joker film with no Batman in it. A billion dollars? No way. Nobody saw that coming. Maybe, you know, Oscar buzz, all that kind of stuff. Sure, you know, early on Scorsese's name was attached to it. Joaquin Phoenix. Even just from seeing the trailers, people were like, oh, okay. Uh, Zazie Beetz, you know, aside, but.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I saw it being successful just from watching the whole dance routine, uh, uh. I said, this is the guy who looks nuts. And. He's doing the pelvic thrusts. I said, something's not right. But I I liked that that trailer when he was just doing the dance and his hair's like just whipping around. I was like.
Casey G. Smith: It had intrigue. The trailer hits. I was like, what is this? Whoa. But yeah, but a Joker movie with no Batman. Yeah. Makes a billion dollars. It's hard to tell, man, you just don't know, man. You just don't know what's going to you can't, you know, people people try to say something about the superhero genre was like, no. These are these are films that just happen to have characters who were in comic books. Yeah. This is different. This is not yeah, this is not a superhero film, you know. But these are still layered characters that have been interpreted in many different ways, but at the end of the day, these are layered characters that you can you have so much material to draw upon and so many ways you can tell their stories. So yeah, The Joker. Crazy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hmm.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, I also watched uh, when I was on Disney Plus, I I watched something called Muppets Now.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What is that?
Casey G. Smith: So, one thing I love about the Muppets is that they always look to try to reinvent them. They had a show that was on ABC for a little while, and it was like a it was kind of like a shot in like the vein of The Office where, you know, they're always trying to produce a show, right? They had basically a late night show and they'd have different guests come on. And then like they they did their old show in the 70s, you know, the guests come on this and that. But it was done like in the vein of The Office where they would cut to shots of the of the Muppets talking directly to the camera about whatever situation. I I freaking loved it, man. I thought it was great. It only went, excuse me, it only went one season and then it got canceled. So, this new show, I didn't even know it was even coming. It was just kind of popped up on Disney Plus. This is again, very much so now like like all internet web-based. So you've got Kermit the Frog is it opens up, he's face timing with uh Skeeter, no, Scooter. Scooter is the the male, and then Skeeter was his sister on Muppet Babies. Muppet lore.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.
Casey G. Smith: But Scooter was always a producer of the show. He's glasses on and you know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm lost.
Casey G. Smith: Um, but he's there on his computer, and Kermit's like, oh, okay, Scooter, do you have the um, everything that we need? I've got some notes for you. You know, he's like wants to give the and Scooter's like, I know, I just got to, you know, get this uploaded here. And so, you're looking at like a desktop and you see these two images, these two video feeds going and and and like Scooter's like, he's constantly like just dropping, it's like his desktop, and he's just dropping stuff into it, different videos. As he drops the video in, then he kind of then goes to that video. And they did a whole thing with like the Swedish Chef cooking, it was insane. Uh, it was like a competition kind of thing. And then you had Kermit interviewing uh RuPaul. Uh, he had a sit down interview with RuPaul. Uh, and they were talking, and all of the Muppets kept coming in and interrupting and asking RuPaul questions and Kermit was getting pissed about it. Um,
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's been a while for me.
Casey G. Smith: And were these like different panels on the screen? Well, they would go to like just they'd go to that segment. You know what I'm saying? They drop the video and we would just go to that segment. And you would watch that. It would be like, you know, five, five, you know, five minutes or something like that. And then, you know, we'd come back to them and go to another segment. It was like trying to put the show together, but while he's dropping these things in, we get to see, you know, see the segments. And there was one with Miss Piggy doing like makeup tutorials on YouTube and just the tape digs, uh, tape digs popped up. And again, they're Muppets always been about bringing in the stars, bringing in the guest stars. And then there was on the Chef, Swedish Chef one, there was a a I guess a famous, um, uh, cook. No, not cook, chef. Um, that was in the mix.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.
Casey G. Smith: How dare you? Yeah, I know. I'm like, what am I doing? Uh, culinary professional. But uh, but yeah, it was it was entertaining. I was I was I was entertained. Again, I always I I I I I love the Muppets. They're for whatever reason, it always it draws me back in. So, something like this, I'm like, okay, I'm I'm excited to watch the next episode.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It made me when you're explaining, it made me think of did you see that YouTube video with, uh I guess it was like the X-Men reunion?
Casey G. Smith: Oh, uh, were they doing like the like a like a Zoom call, and all of a sudden Ryan Reynolds pops up in it?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Yes. Yeah. That was entertaining. It was. There's been, dude, there's been so many like reunion things happening. Uh, I watched one for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, my God.
Reginald Titus Jr.: 2010.
Casey G. Smith: You're correct. Thank you. They actually they actually read through the whole movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Whoa.
Casey G. Smith: They did a reading of the whole movie, dude. Wow. And we're talking like 90% of the main cast with maybe like two key people maybe missing. Chris Evans was there. Dude, when you see, Anna Kendrick. Dude, like and people who are like names, names now. Again, uh, yeah, it was awesome. You know, and Edgar Wright's up there, giving directions. Somebody else's on like one of the writers on it, he's doing like the narration. And there's a couple people that double up on some roles. You know, Aubrey Plaza's there. What? Dude, it was a. It was a. Is it like edited or is it just like real time? They do some they do like when they cut to certain people, they do some editing. Some of them were were smart, and they had like little props they used here and there. But it's just it's it's them it's it's beautiful, man. And then they they even played some music, and they have the original writer and artist of the comic book. Uh, he's there, and while they're performing, he's drawing up like sketches in his art style from it. And they'll they'll go back to him, he'll put up an image that was like from a scene that just like took place. Bad ass, man. You know, I was like, yo, this is. And then they'll they'll play some of the musical cues, you know, from it. Yeah, it was it was wildly entertaining and uh, yeah, I I loved it. And you when you just, yeah, it was it was great.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There's a lot of people in that.
Casey G. Smith: I got to check that out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, worth while.
Casey G. Smith: And it's on YouTube?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, okay. Under under Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, uh reunion. Okay. Yeah, it was like the 10-year reunion.
Casey G. Smith: That's pretty dope.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, dude, it was incredible. That is dope.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, yeah, and then I'm still working through my my Transformers: Headmasters.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I had a couple more, but just one last thing. The show, the movie Good Boys. Do you remember that movie Good Boys? It was like the three little kids.
Casey G. Smith: We talked we've we've we've we've mentioned it. Yes, a time or two.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man.
Casey G. Smith: No. Sorry. Sorry about that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I got to say about that film. Okay. That was pretty emphatic. Thumbs down. Quite quite clear. Avoid. Danger. Danger. Oh, man. I don't like doing that to people's movies. Well, it is what it is. You got to keep it real. Yeah, you got to keep it real. If it's if it's that, you know, if you feel offended after watching it, like, just it it's uh not offended, uh, you know, when like people are doing like the tropes, clichés, same formula for every adult comedy. That's what it falls into. It's like you've seen this film before, it's just insert kids. It's just like, come on, man. That's all. Um, so, episode 100.

Retrospective: Podcast's Origin and Top 5 Commentary Films
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Filmmaker Commentary. So, Reggie, let me ask you this question. When you set out to start Filmmaker Commentary, I remember years ago, like 2012, 2013, when we're working on, you know, one of our first short films, I remember you specifically saying, you know, one day I want to I want to do a podcast. Yeah. On commentaries by directors. And you were the one that got me into beginning to watch watch a movie and then going back and listening to the commentary. Remember, I borrowed a couple of your DVDs, and uh I started checking them out and like, oh, wow, there's a lot of good info here. So, what point, what was the point where you finally said, man, okay, I I got to do this. I got to make this podcast happen.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, what was I'm trying to mean, it was we were finishing up our film. I was editing editing up the film. Yeah. Yeah, editing. Give your editor a tip. Um, but what year was this? What we um this has to be 2016 going into 17. And I was at home with the kids like during the day. This is why I'm watching kids. Uh, in our household, sometimes we'll switch up, you know, sometimes I'll work for years and my wife stayed at home. Sometimes every now and then, this was the first time that actually switched where I was stuck with the kids. Yeah, help me. So it was it was new for me to be at home with the kids and and juggle editing a film, juggle having a few clients for the business. It was it was pretty bad, but I knew that it was time. I was like, all right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yay, editing.
Casey G. Smith: I need more work to do.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I need more work to do. More more editing.
Casey G. Smith: Creative outlet. Yes. I was just like, hey, let me try just a small 15-minute podcast and just to see if if this thing even has legs. You know what I mean? See see if I'll still be interested in it. And so the the first, uh, the first episode is El Mariachi, you know, Robert Rodriguez because his book, Robert Without a Crew, I wrote that back during the last recession. Um, when I graduated college. They're saying millennials are the most unluckiest generation.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So I've heard.
Casey G. Smith: And um, man, yeah, it's uh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not far-fetched.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it isn't. So that at that time I was reading his book. So I was like, you know, in kind of honor of the first movies that I watched, you know, trying to watch with the commentaries to learn specifically about filmmaking. It was around that time. And, um, yeah, just out of homage, I was like, you know, let me go ahead and, uh, do this first one with Robert Rodriguez. He got me into the game because he was one of the few directors that actually spent the time writing notes so that he he knew that other filmmakers are watching this and wanted to get better. I mean, thus him having a journal, a diary that he keeps and that basically his book was a lot of his journal entries, his diary entries. And, uh, so him giving back. So I was like, you know, if this is something that can be good, you know, it's a way I can give back. And, uh, I really enjoyed it. And then after having the having you as a guest at first,
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's not far-fetched.
Casey G. Smith: Was it episode four or five?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it was early on. Cabin fever. Yeah. Yeah, it was early on. And then now co-host. Hey. 80 something 90 something episodes later, um, I still dig it.
Casey G. Smith: Likewise, my friend, likewise. Yeah, I don't even know if I answered your question, but, uh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You did. I did. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, awesome, man. Well, in celebration of this 100th episode, we decided we want to kind of do a little uh, again, look look back at some things, but also just give our our our thoughts because we have covered so many films. And I'll be honest, I'm I I am shocked that we've found this many films with commentary. But truth is, there's still a whole lot more out there that do have commentary as well. So, we're not done, we're not going anywhere. Thank you for sticking with us. We hope you continue to share and and tell others about us. We we want to continue to take this to the next level. Yes, indeed. So, first off, we're going to dive into our top five films that we've covered here on Filmmaker Commentary. Sorry. I thought that kind of hanging. So, um, and the filmmaker commentary, uh the film and the directors, our top five.
Casey G. Smith: Okay. Sorry. I thought that was kinda hanging.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Um, I have do we start from five? I only, you know what, I didn't even number them. So, yeah, these aren't even, uh so in our we are giving lists versus, let's say, rankings. So this is in no particular order.
Casey G. Smith: Okay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Re-Animator, episode 36, Stuart Gordon.
Casey G. Smith: I didn't put the episode number on mine, but.
Reginald Titus Jr.: No worries.
Casey G. Smith: You can scroll through.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Scroll.
Casey G. Smith: Um, I put uh very a recent one. It'll by the time you listen to this, it'll it'll be up.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. There you go. I know, right. I was like, oh, okay, okay. Uh, Knives Out, Rian Johnson. There was a good one. Yeah, I like that film. It was it was. I have Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson, episode 49. And I think two liking the films even more, like like an unexpected, I didn't expect to like Boogie Nights as much. I didn't expect to like Re-Animator as much, you know, it was a surprise movie, and the commentary is insightful. Yeah. Yeah, man. Boogie Nights really both films, both films. I was like, oh, wow. cuz I've I saw Boogie Nights in college, and I was like, I don't remember all this. I don't remember all these people. Hey, that's Don Cheadle. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Okay. There's a good one. Yeah, I like that film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, Alien, Ridley Scott. It's a classic. And crew. Yeah, that could easily be on I I don't have that on the list, but that could easily be on the list because, I mean, Ridley. Yeah. I could have done a couple of his. I was like, ah, man, Prometheus, uh, you know, Alien Covenant. Yeah, there were Thelma & Louise was was solid. Yeah. The man's a power, he's a about his business. But yeah, I would go with with the first Alien by Ridley Scott. Yeah. Yes, sir. Um, again, you can't you mean you can't you can't go wrong. These are all, I mean, amazing filmmakers. Uh, what movie do you wish had commentary? Uh, Inglourious Basterds. Is that one that we covered? No. Cuz if we we didn't. Yeah, dumb question. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Probably would not have covered this. What movie would you like to cover if it had commentary? I know, right. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Uh, Inglourious Basterds. Mostly like Tarantino's stuff. Sure. You know, just because Robert Rodriguez had the like kind of get like rouled Tarantino in to talk about uh Sin City. And when he he's so knowledgeable and has like that crazy filmmaker memory in regards to where all the stuff is coming from, they're just like, why doesn't he do commentary? He's so like informational. Did we do Sin City? Yes. Yeah. I thought we had. And when I was scrolling through my list, I'm like, you know what, you know, wait, no, I I I do remember seeing it on there. Never mind. But there was like, I think there might have been like two or three different versions of the commentary, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, there may have been. Cuz I think there's one that actually has him along with uh Frank Miller. Uh, there you go. Yes. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, right? Or And then there's another one where he's bringing like Bruce Willis to talk. He brings in Tarantino to talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then there's another one who was just Robert Rodriguez. And that's this was like an a this was like, I mean, this was the good times back when Robert Rodriguez was just putting so much into the special features. I kind of want to watch Sin City again now. That's uh that's a beautiful film, man. That Yeah. I I I enjoyed it. But yeah, I think that's one that I that I enjoy coming back to. Yeah. He did he can he can he can from a body of work standpoint because he stands out, you know. Something about him, something can either consistent or well like cuz like um like I just recently watched Joker. So like Joaquin is on my brain right now. But I don't know what other film from 2009 to 19 that he was in. Her. Duh. He's right there in her. Duh. I'm tripping. Okay, and I actually picked that film from 2013. So, let's go with Joaquin. And right behind him, I would go with Scarlett Johansson. And just because of the range that they both have. Man, I'm I'm going to I I was going to say, yeah, ScarJo would have been, uh, would have been, I think my my follow-up also, because she is, uh, she's she's crushing it, man. Um, Yeah, she's she's precious in this film. Uh, she could do no wrong in no film. Man, she's yeah, ScarJo is awesome. Thumbs up. But, um, yeah, man, I I was I was so impressed, man. I was so impressed with Jojo Rabbit. And Taika Waititi, man, I mean, you know, we didn't mention Thor Ragnarok, but damn, that film. That's rewatchable. That is yes. Yeah, I watched that one a lot, actually. Yeah, very rewatchable. Uh, he's got just such vision. Uh, and he's getting better and better. Yeah, he can work on his commentaries, but. Oh, a great deal. Yeah. But the movie is lovely. Yeah. Jojo Rabbit. Yeah, and I'm I'm happy to put it in my top of the uh, not top, but within my list of the of the top 10s 2009 to 2019. It almost made my list for 2019. It almost made it, but I was like, I got to Endgame took it too. Sure. Give me that. Smile. Yeah, it's my. I I I actually I had to and that movie had a lot of like underground buzz. Like people were like, you got to watch this. You got to watch. It was like, it was one of those films because it was so creepy, people were talking about it. Did he also do the Witch? I don't know if he no, I don't think so, but he did uh summer, the midsummer one. I won't even touch that. Yeah. I think I think he's like the next. He's already like He is a superstar. But he's like the next, yeah, he's going to replace Denzel, in my opinion. Yeah, he's going to be that guy. If not, Denzel Washington's son, we'll see when Tenet comes out what happens. Oh, man. Yeah, he's got he's in a Christopher Nolan film, and just finished up with a the Spike Lee joint with BlackkKlansman. So, we'll see. He he's good in that. David, David Washington. Yeah, yeah. He was you know, he had he had a chance, or has had a chance to, you know, cut his chops on Ballers on HBO. Um, which he's he's really good in that. He stands out in that. He's XFL player. Almost went to the league, so. Oh, really? That I didn't know. That makes sense. Makes whole life. Close to life. Um, what was I about to say? He was in a um recent. So, it's 2019, probably. Hmm. He's working on a Princess Bride TV show. And he's apparently. Maybe. Do you know when when it came out? Uh 20 I'm pretty sure it's 2019. 2019, I'm pretty sure. It's called Bad Education on HBO. Hmm. But it's him and for sure. Hugh Jackman? Yeah, it's called Bad Education. Oh, well, there Yeah, they have it pinned as a as a film then. Okay. That makes more sense. Oh, it is a film. My bad. Okay. But it's just one of those made for TV films. Okay. Bad Education. Hugh. All right, man. Anything else? I think that's it, man. So, what do our what do we have for the people that are listening?

Celebrating 100 Episodes with a Contest
Reginald Titus Jr.: I think that's it, man. So what do our what do we have for the people that are listening?
Casey G. Smith: All right. So once again, we want to thank you all so much for sticking with us and being so wonderfully faithful uh here at Filmmaker Commentary. So we want to give a reward in celebration of our 100th episode. So, uh, we are going to allow the winner of this contest, um, to let us know what Blu-ray they would like, and we will, uh, we'll make that we'll make that happen. So, so here's the way the competition will work: You'll go to our Instagram at Filmmaker Commentary. Make sure you're following us there. And simply let us know what is your favorite film with commentary. The very first response there, we will reach out and we will uh DM you to get your details and find out what Blu-ray you want us to send to you, and we'll get that out to you. So once again, go to Instagram, make sure you're following us at Filmmaker Commentary. And on this 100th episode, once it's posted, Reginald will put up the uh the um images for that. And then the first person to apply, letting us know their favorite film with commentary, will be our winner. Boom. Don't forget to put #FilmmakerCommentary. Yes. All right. Just to let you all know, coming up next, we will be doing Ridley Scott's American Gangster. Yes, sir. Um, again, we appreciate 100 episodes, man. 100. We watched 100 movies. Yeah. You got to put things in perspective. Even more than that, if we talk about, you know, what we covered during movies and films watched, we've watched well over well over 100 movies. It's a lot of movies. That is a lot of movies. Um, yeah. Yeah. It's all good. Um, yeah, but it's been good, man. It has been good. Yeah. Looking forward to continuing this. The next one. 100. Next one, 100. Um, and you can catch us where, brother? You can catch us. First, sponsored by Natural Hair the Movie, by Gran Romero Films available for purchase and rent on Amazon Prime Video Services. And also on Vimeo on Demand. Please like and leave a review while you're at it. Check us out at facebook.com/FilmmakerCommentary. You can also listen, like, rate and subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher Radio. Find us on Twitter. He is @ReggieTitus. I am @CaseyGSmith32. Once again, Filmmaker Commentary on Instagram, also Reginald Titus Jr., that's JR on Instagram. And once again, Casey G. Smith32 at Instagram. Until next time. Peace. Respect.